“Once in a while, something genuinely mindblowing comes on to the market,” the text beneath a stylised zeppelin image and Led Zeppelin’s logo read. “This is such a moment.”
The presentation, circulated to prospective investors in 2023, offered buyers a 10% stake in Led Zeppelin royalties.
Helen Grant, the daughter of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant, inherited a cut of the royalties of Led Zeppelin album sales and streams following her father’s death in 1995. Now, she was seeking an investor willing to pay millions of pounds for her share of the band’s royalties.
Despite more than three years passing since Grant began seeking a buyer for her stake, an unusual public appeal for buyers to come forward and an £8.5 million deal for the share of royalties, no transaction has closed. Grant still owns 10% of two key Led Zeppelin companies and no shares have changed hands.
LedZepNews has learned that the sale process has been paused, with Grant’s lawyer stopping his work to market the stake in Led Zeppelin royalties. It’s now in doubt whether any sale will proceed.
Did Jimmy Page block the sale?
Multiple sources have told LedZepNews that Jimmy Page caused delays to the sale process.
Publicly available documents show that Page signed paperwork in 2020 giving the board of key Led Zeppelin business Superhype Tapes the ability to veto and block the sale of shares by shareholders, including Grant.
At the time of the 2020 filing, the board consisted of Page, his daughter Scarlet Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Led Zeppelin’s accountant Joan Hudson.
Grant and her brother Warren, who also owns 10% of Superhype Tapes, are not members of the board of Superhype Tapes. Jones stepped down from the board in 2021, while Hudson resigned in 2024.
Documents available at Companies House also show that Superhype Tapes has a pre-emption mechanism, giving shareholders including Page a right of first refusal to purchase the majority of Grant’s shares at her stated price.
If Grant wishes to sell her shares in the business, she has to file paperwork informing the company of any agreement for the shares. No deal for a sale of her stake can be completed without Page being notified and offered the right to match the deal price. He could also use his control of the company’s board to block a sale.
Page previously increased his ownership stake in Superhype Tapes, with company filings showing how Page gradually increased his control of the business over time.
When it was incorporated in 1968, Page jointly owned Superhype Tapes along with Led Zeppelin’s manager Grant.
Upon his death in 1995, Grant’s 50% stake in the business was split between his children, Helen and Warren Grant.
Between July 2002 and July 2003, Page reached a deal with Grant’s children to buy 30% of the company from them, increasing his stake to 80% and leaving them each with 10% of the business.
Grant had been seeking to sell her 10% stake of Superhype Tapes along with 10% of United Blag Productions, another business in the UK that controls parts of Led Zeppelin’s catalogue, and 10% of Bad Company Entertainment, a UK business that controls parts of Bad Company’s catalogue. The deal also included an unspecified stake in Swan Song, a US business also used for Bad Company’s music.
Companies House filings show that like Superhype Tapes, United Blag Productions also has a pre-emption mechanism, giving Page and other shareholders first refusal to buy Grant’s shares.
Helen Grant spent years trying to sell her stake
Efforts to sell Grant’s stake began as early as 2022, LedZepNews understands. That year, an unidentified seller attempted to sell a 10% stake in Swan Song through the website Royalty Exchange, reaching a deal to sell their portion of the business for $390,000.
Financial information published online to promote the Swan Song stake sale showed that the unnamed owner of the stake received $72,103 in royalty payments between 2020 and 2021.
Grant’s lawyer Ian Penman has denied that the Royalty Exchange seller was Grant. Company filings show no indication that the $390,000 sale ever closed.
On July 10, 2023, Grant took the unusual step of publicly seeking buyers for her stake in Led Zeppelin’s catalogue, announcing her intention to sell the assets in an interview with The Times.
“I’d much rather have Dad back, but I know I’m bloody lucky,” Grant said in the interview, with the newspaper referring to “her coming windfall.”
Speaking to LedZepNews on the day the planned sale was announced, Penman explained that Grant had gone public because “I felt that we hadn’t necessarily reached all the parts that we need to reach so I suggested to Helen that going public might make sure that if there is a potential custodian of her rights in the future that may not be aware that she’s selling, on a worldwide basis, that we should try to find them.”
Days later, he told LedZepNews that the public announcement had caused Grant to be “deluged with offers”.
An £8.5 million deal was reached
In September 2023, LedZepNews reported that Grant had signed an £8.5 million deal for her stake in Led Zeppelin royalties. At the time, we reported that the transaction wasn’t final so hadn’t yet closed.
In July 2024, Penman confirmed to LedZepNews that a deal had been signed for Grant’s stake. “Helen’s shares are currently under binding/signed offer,” he told LedZepNews. “In due course, we will be making an announcement about the deal.”
The identity of the potential buyer remains unknown, however the only named potential buyer was music mogul Irving Azoff.
A source close to Grant previously told LedZepNews and music industry publication Music Business Worldwide that Azoff’s business Iconic Artists Group had expressed an interest in purchasing Grant’s stake.
However, Azoff told LedZepNews in July 2024 that he had “no knowledge” of any talks taking place to acquire Grant’s stake.
Responding to Azoff’s comments, Grant’s lawyer Penman told LedZepNews that the signed deal for Grant’s shares “is not related in any way to Irving or his company.”
LedZepNews also heard a rumour that the potential buyer was a European investment fund, but no announcement of a deal was made.
2025 came and went with no deal announcement
Despite Grant’s lawyer confirming in 2024 that a deal had been signed, 2025 passed with no announcement of the transaction.
Corporate filings show that Grant still owns her 10% stakes in Superhype Tapes, United Blag Productions and Bad Company Entertainment. US company filings don’t show shareholder information for Swan Song.
Indeed, a company filing from United Blag Productions published as recently as July 7 shows that Grant still owns 10% of the business, indicating that no deal has closed.
In May 2025, Penman told LedZepNews that Grant received “a number of new offers” for her 10% stake in Led Zeppelin royalties as interest in the band rose following the release of “Becoming Led Zeppelin”.
Jimmy Page and Helen Grant did not respond to requests for comment.
EXCELLENT REPORTING !! Love the look at the financial goings on tht normally remain in the shadows …..
Keep it up !